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This week’s news.

Small islands petition Security council
Small islands, from the Maldives to PNG, are planning the unprecedented step next week, ahead of the UN General Assembly meeting, of calling on the Security Council itself to address climate change as a pressing threat to international peace and security.

Return of the 'hockey stick'
A new study by the scientists behind the controversial "hockey stick" climate graph, much derided by climate change sceptics, suggests their earlier work was broadly correct.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/sci/tech/7592575.stm

Plans for world’s biggest advanced solar thermal plant in Australia .
Worley Parsons is acting as a central broker for a range of Australia’s biggest companies, particularly the miners, to work up plans to build the world's largest solar thermal power plant. Worley Parsons had very strong Thermal Solar Power capability in California where they had been involved with most of the concentrating solar power stations, over about 15 years. They decided Australia was an ideal location to apply the technology on a larger scale. There was more desert in Australia than most parts of the world, and there are only a few countries that really make sense, like the Middle East and South Africa, and Australia.

When they realised the coincidence of  the peak power requirement and the sun's energy,  took the concept to their key customers, major industrial players that we service, like BHP and Rio and Wesfarmers and Fortescue Metals and others, and said, 'Would you fund a serious evaluation of Solar Thermal Power in Australia?' and they came into that study very keen to investigate this for their own power requirements, and also for Australian requirements. And so we've put together this consortium funding a study to find out if it works.

They hope to have a definite plan by the end of the year and could be in production as early as 2011, generating 250 megawatts on desert terrain of about 3k by 2k. By 2020 there could be 34 such sites and Australia, if it moves fast enough, could lead the world.

Peter Meurs, director of Eco Nomics, a sub-division of Worley Parsons, was interviewed on radio Saturday Extra, on August 30. For full transcript see:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/saturdayextra/stories/2008/2349911.htm

Obama’s energy goals in his speech accepting nomination.
"For the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as president: in 10 years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East ... As president, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology and find ways to safely harness nuclear power ...

"And I'll invest 150 billion dollars over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy, wind power and solar power and the next generation  of biofuels; an investment that will lead to new industries and five million new jobs that pay well and can't ever be outsourced."

He also promised to help establish America as a producer of affordable, low fuel and low emission cars.
http://news.sbs.com.au/worldnewsaustralia/excerpts_from_obama39s_speech_556453

Still unprepared for unexpected or even recurrent natural disasters.
Hurricane Gustav lapped the top of the, still inadequately rebuilt, New Orleans levees, but the city was spared by good luck rather than good management. Cuba was still reeling from Gustav’ earlier passage, but was able to evacuate a quarter of its population, with no deaths recorded.

Previous updates .

Senate to set up urgent inquiry aimed at releasing water into lower Murray.
The proposal by new Green senator, Sarah Hanson-Young, was agreed unanimously. It is to report back by end of September with the aim of finding water to release into the lower lakes and Coorong by Christmas.

Bihar -Worst floods in fifty years.
Food riots have erupted among two million people displaced in Bihar in India.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/28/2348638.htm?section=justin
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/27/2347505.htm

Windmills for New York .
The mayor is hoping to plant them offshore and on top of skyscrapers.

High prices cut airline flights .
Global seat miles will fall by 7% in run up to Christmas Deeper cuts predicted in 2009. (GD weekly, 15/08/08 p17)

Emissions trading scheme and business - attack and counter-attack .
The Business Council of Australia made a plea for extra emissions assistance for trade exposed industries and smaller targets. They released a study of unnamed firms claiming the proposed subsidy would be insufficient to keep businesses from going offshore to avoid bankruptcy.   The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry countered that this could put extra burdens on the rest of the economy .

After widespread accusations that business was trying to avoid its responsibilities, BCA has denied delaying tactics But in a speech to the Sydney Institute last night, council president Greg Gailey insisted businesses will carry some of the burden of new climate change policies.
"We are trying to be cooperative and helpful … We actually support emissions trading, and we support Australia addressing the global challenge that climate change represents. And we are quite realistic, and we accept that business has to bear part of the burden of addressing climate change."
Weekend Australian, August 23,  p6, 16,17, 18, 25
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24225936-12250,00.htm
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24226942-11949,00.html
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/22/2343391.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/21/2342691.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/28/2348542.htm?section=justin

The scientific community is underestimating the speed at which the climate is changing .
Professor Will Steffen (head of the climate change unit at the Australian National University and science adviser to the Federal Government) has raised the concerns at the Coast to Coast Collaboration Conference in Darwin. He says polar ice sheets across the northern shelf are melting quickly and last year was a record year in the loss of ice.

"The evidence over the past 12 to 18 months suggests that we have underestimated how fast this aspect of the earth's system can change," he said. A possible four-metre rise could have devastating effects on many low-lying areas in coastal Australia, including Darwin, where the Northern Territory Government was recently a major contributor to a billion-dollar waterfront redevelopment including the conference centre where today's meeting is being held.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/19/2339924.htm

Climate change will be a key research area at Brisbane's new eco-sciences precinct .
Work, to be completed by 2011, is about to begin on the $280 million joint venture between the Queensland Government and the CSIRO. The precinct will bring scientists together from various disciplines

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has buried a time capsule on the site, containing current knowledge about climate change. The Queensland Government has given the CSIRO a $2 million grant to assess preparations for climate change.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/18/2338688.htm

China wins coal rights amid water, farming fears .
The giant state-owned China Shenhua Energy group, the world’s largest, has won the right to explore for coal in a northern New South Wales section of the Murray-Darling river system.The $600 million tender, which will cover 190 square kilometres of the Gunnedah Basin, has fuelled concerns about the effects of mining on rich farmland and groundwater reserves.
Both the state and federal governments have rejected a call from local communities for an independent study on the effects of mining on groundwater reserves. The federal MP for New England, independent Tony Windsor, says the Gunnedah basin decision is a sign of hypocrisy over the future of the Murray-Darling river system.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/15/2336643.htm

Lakes crisis.
Can the Lower Lakes and Coorong be saved from irreversible acidification? This has been the major local topic of the week, with claims and counter claims, demonstrations and rallies.

A survey of Murray wetlands, last November, reported they still supported 40 species and some 250,000 birds, a greater variety and concentration of bird life than anywhere else in the river system. Fresh water had to flow into the system before bird numbers dropped beyond recovery.

The Advertiser front page, on August 1, called on government to declare a state of emergency. The Weekend Australian (August 9-10, p5) described the deepening crisis, as water from rains further upstream were absorbed and diverted and failing to reach the Murray, and illustrated how, in places, the Darling had stopped flowing.

The Sunday Mail (August 10) devoted four pages and its editorial (16-18 and 38) to the crisis. It reported that the Murray Darling Commission believed there was not enough excess water upstream that could save the lakes (without being lost to evaporation on the way) and noted this was the longest period (17 years) between floods on the flood plains ever recorded. The minister, Penny Wong appeared to accept this hopelessness, but others have called for a proper audit of upstream water stores. A controversial project to construct a weir and open the Goolwa barrage to let the sea water in is a subject of heated debate and limited information
http://www.crikey.com.au/Politics/20080807-Time-for-Wong-to-come-clean-on-the-Coorong.html
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&as_q=Coorong+and+barrage+and+Murray&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&num=10&lr=&as_filetype=&ft=i&as_sitesearch=&as_qdr=m&as_rights=&as_occt=any&cr=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&safe=images
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/12/2332983.htm

Marine scientists find east coast climate zones have moved south by 200k in 60 years
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/07/2328046.htm

New Arctic collapse
A large chunk of the Ward Hunt Arctic Ice Shelf has broken free of the northern Canadian coast.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/31/2319617.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/sci/tech/7532435.stm

UK failing to cut emissions.
The UK has been living under a delusion over its claim to be cutting greenhouse gases, according to two reports that will shake the climate change debate. They show that instead of falling since the 1990s, as the government has claimed, UK greenhouse emissions have being growing in line with the economy.

These finding are dependent on emissions from aviation, shipping and imported goods being counted. At the moment they are excluded under the internationally-agreed system for carbon accounts. Both reports are from the respected Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) based at the University of York.

They are a massive blow to the British government which claimed to have grasped the Holy Grail of climate policy - de-coupling economic growth from emissions growth
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/01/climatechange.carbonemissions

Australian forests store three times more carbon than previously thought.
In a ten year study, scientists from the Australian National University examined 240 sites of intact natural forests in south-east Australia and found they can store up to 640 tonnes per hectare. The largest stocks were in the central highlands of Tasmania and Victoria.

The Wilderness Society says the research findings should prompt governments to protect native forests. The Greens have called for an end to all logging of native forests.

"We looked at half of Australia's remaining forests and our estimate is they can store around 33 billion tonnes of CO2. These are very big numbers," said Professor Brendan Mackey. The result is especially startling compared with what scientists had previously thought. At last count they estimated temperate forests could store around 200 tonnes of carbon per hectare. "If all those forests were cleared and all of the carbon in the biomass in the soil released into the atmosphere, that would be the equivalent of about 80 per cent of Australia's annual emissions every year for 100 years. So we really have to protect our natural forests," Professor Mackey said.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/05/2324719.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/05/2324217.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/14/2334799.htm

Big three car makers in crisis.
After huge losses and plunging sales, as fewer consumers are willing to buy gas-guzzling SUVs,  analysts aren't ruling out the possibility that GM, Ford or Chrysler might eventually be forced to declare bankruptcy. General Motors has reported a $15.5 billion second quarter net loss. That followed an $8.7 billion loss at Ford Motor and came on the same day that the industry reported a 13% drop in sales, its worst month in 16 years.

Chrysler does not report financial results, but it relies even more heavily on sales of light trucks, such as pickups and SUVs, than GM and Ford. Chrysler also has virtually no overseas sales to fall back upon. As such, the credit markets have expressed doubts about Chrysler's prospects and the company recently stopped offering leases to its customers due to these concerns.

Making matters worse for the Big Three is that it will take years to fully adapt to the changing consumer trends, i.e. the shift away from gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs to smaller cars.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/06/news/companies/big_three_woes/index.htm?cnn=yes

Solar cars for Israel
Israel is planning the world’s first comprehensive national network of recharging stations for electric cars by 2010.

Previous Updates:

Nelson rolled .
Nelson’s ‘wait for other countries to act first on emissions trading policy’ was rejected by the Coalition. Public opinion poll showed over 80% support an emissions trading scheme and 60% want action irrespective of what other countries do. A Climate Institute commissioned Galaxy Poll found 69%, including 52% of coalition voters, want an emission trading scheme by 2010 or before.

Gas field in Bass Strait to be commercial by 2015 .

Ford’s worst quarter ever .
Ford loss of $9.1bn announced and shares down 15%. The company is now seeking to pick up more fuel efficient European models.

Nanosolar achieves 1 Gigawat throughput in June 2008 .
The Nanosolar company was founded in 2002 in Silicon Valley, focussing on making much cheaper solar energy. In June 2004 it was the first to achieve ‘a key technology milestone to simply roll-print the semiconductor of a solar cell that can be as efficient and durable as a conventional silicon cell’. By June 2005 it had secured $48mn in funding. By March 2006 it was producing cells with world record 14.6% efficiency.
http://www.nanosolar.com/cache/PVSEC17_ns_dft.pdf 

In December 2007, the first commercial panels were shipped from its new manufacturing facility in California.
Most production tools in the solar industry tend to have a 10-30 megawatt (MW) annual production capacity. The gigawat throughput is enabled through a proprietary nanoparticle ink which allows more efficient solar cells to be printed with a simple, fast, and robust coating process that eliminates the need for expensive high-vacuum chambers and high-vacuum based deposition techniques.

The copper based semiconductor (CIGS) coater, that has just achieved this throughput,  cost $1.65 million. At 100 feet-per-minute speed it is two orders of magnitude more capital efficient than a high-vacuum process: a twenty times slower high-vacuum tool would have cost about ten times as much.  The same coating technique works in principle for speeds up to 2000 feet-per-minute.
http://www.nanosolar.com/history.htm
http://www.nanosolar.com/blog3/

Senate to probe government’s solar means testing .
The removal of the solar energy rebate from households with incomes over $100,000 is said to be driving small solar firms out of business.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/25/2313913.htm

Australia lagging in energy efficiency.
A new report by the Climate Institute shows both developed and developing countries are more competitive in energy production than many sectors of the Australian economy. It found Australia is the second most inefficient of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries for manufacturing, and has the third most energy hungry economy - behind only the United States and Canada. Some of the more modern aluminium smelters in Africa have better efficiency standards than many Australian smelters.

"It does blow the myth somewhat that just because some plant may move overseas, means that there is carbon leakage or greater emissions as a result," said the Institute’s CEO. "If Australian plants want to be at world's best practice, they need to get up to date, make the investments that are necessary, and that in many sectors have been neglected."

Emissions trading Scheme .
Penny Wong unveiled the government’s proposals for a trading scheme, in response to the Garnaut report, on 16 July. Reactions have been mixed. At present the opposition is threatening to block the proposal in the senate and the government will need to negotiate with the Greens and independents.
Key points of the government green paper:

• 2010 start-up date only an "intention" at this stage.
• Scheme to cover about 75 per cent of Australia's emissions
• About 1,000 businesses that emit more than 25,000 tonnes of carbon a year will be required to buy permits and monitor and report their emissions.
• Big polluters like the aluminium and cement industries to get specified amount of free permits.
• Electricity generation, transport, emissions released from oil and gas production, industrial processes and waste will all be included in the scheme from the start.
• Petrol will be included but the Government will soften the blow by reducing fuel excise to cancel out any price rises caused by emissions trading.
• The fuel price will be adjusted periodically over the next three years after which the system will be reviewed.
• Agriculture will not be included any earlier than 2015, with a final decision to be made in 2013.
• Deforestation is not included and forestry can be included on a voluntary basis and receive permits for sequestration, or the burial of carbon.
• Once a cap is set, carbon permits per tonne will be auctioned with a price set by the market, with the aim to create an incentive for businesses to decrease emissions.
• Businesses will know within a five-year timeframe what the carbon emission cap would be, and can trade permits.
• Payments to carers, pensioners and seniors will be increased to counter rising costs.
• Low-income earners to receive extra payments through the tax system. Family assistance payments would also be reviewed through the Budget.
• Coal-fired energy generators will receive a "limited amount" of direct assistance at the beginning of the scheme, but this amount has not yet been defined.
• Climate Change Action Fund to be set up to support capital investment and improve energy efficiency for businesses. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/16/2305232.htm
• http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/greenpaper/index.html

To follow this up in more detail see the stories below:
Bob Brown says Greens will work constructively, without preconditions, with government on emissions trading, to improve it.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/23/2312161.htm
Transition to emissions scheme won’t be easy Wong warns business
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/22/2311235.htm
Turnbull attacks emissions scheme ‘impractical timing’
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/22/2311115.htm
Opinion: Countdown to emissions scheme for agriculture by David Crombie, president of National Farmers Federation
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/22/2310361.htm
BP chief economist backs Oz emissions trading scheme - ‘better than a carbon tax’
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/21/2310159.htm
Government ads to push emissions trading plan
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/20/2308747.htm
Mixed reactions to emissions trading scheme
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/16/2305565.htm
Wong unveils trading scheme details
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/16/2305232.htm
Garnaut summary:
http://www.garnautreview.org.au/domino/Web_Notes/Garnaut/garnautweb.nsf

Solar Breakthroughs.
a) Researchers develop efficient solar power devices .
A new solar technology using sheets of glass covered with organic dyes could increase the power generated by solar panels tenfold. A team of MIT scientists, report in the journal Sciences that they have developed a new type of "solar concentrator" that may provide a better way to extract energy from the sun.
They used glass sheets coated in organic dyes to concentrate light hitting the panes. The dyes absorbed the light, then emitted it into the glass, which carried the light to the edges of the pane much as fiber-optic cables transport light over distances, the researchers said. The hope is that the use of this sort of technology can help bring the cost of solar power closer to the cost of conventional fossil fuel power sources such as coal.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/technology/7501476.stm http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/11/2300932.htm
b) Solar power from the Sahara for Europe via new grid.
Speaking at the Euroscience Open Forum in Barcelona, Arnulf Jaeger-Walden of the European commission's Institute for Energy, said it would require the capture of just 0.3% of the light falling on the Sahara and Middle East deserts to meet all of Europe's energy needs.
The scientists are calling for the creation of a series of huge solar farms - producing electricity either through photovoltaic cells, or by concentrating the sun's heat to boil water and drive turbines - as part of a plan to share Europe's renewable energy resources across the continent. A new supergrid, transmitting electricity along high voltage direct current cables would allow countries such as the UK and Denmark ultimately to export wind energy at times of surplus supply, as well as import from other green sources such as geothermal power in Iceland and solar power from the Sahara.
A recent meeting of Mediterranean countries, including Europe and North Africa, agreed to cooperate on developing alternative energy.  The grid proposal, which has won political support from both Nicholas Sarkozy and Gordon Brown, answers the perennial criticism that renewable power will never be economic because the weather is not sufficiently predictable. Its supporters argue that even if the wind is not blowing hard enough in the North Sea, it will be blowing somewhere else in Europe, or the sun will be shining on a solar farm somewhere.
For the full story see:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/23/solarpower.windpower

World’s first commercial tidal power turbine turned on in Britain
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/18/2307292.htm

2007 saw 60% more global investment in alternative energy than in previous year.

The COAG agreement on the Murray Darling and the delivery of the Garnaut report to the government were the main news items of the week.
Since there was not time to analyse the reports on these before updating, just headlines and sources are listed below.

Political leaders at COAG sign Murray-Darling deal.
Govt pledges $3.7b to save Murray-Darling A deal to manage the Murray-Darling is signed at COAG. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/03/2293596.htm
State and territory leaders have described today's $3.7 billion Murray-Darling agreement as an historic breakthrough.             http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/03/2293934.htm
SA gets more than $600 million for Murray water projects, including re-engineering lower lakes.            http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/03/2293655.htm
Despite $12.9bn to save the Murray it may be too late.
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,23957464-5006301,00.html
The Federal Opposition fears plans to lift the cap on the amount of water that can be traded out of the Murray-Darling Basin could have catastrophic effects on local communities.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/04/2294069.htm
A water economist says COAG's agreement on the Murray-Darling will not ensure swift action.
  http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/03/2294049.htm

Garnaut Report submitted to government July 4.
No mercy for dirty power. Regions worst hit by emissions trading would get handouts and industries investing in clean power would be rewarded but Garnaut rules out compensating coal fired power stations.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23966376-601,00.htm
Govt urged to encourage less energy use Peter Shergold says any emissions compensation scheme adopted by the Government must encourage people to use less energy.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/04/2294119.htm
Greens say the Federal Government must move quickly in response to Ross Garnaut's draft report on climate change. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/04/2294067.htm
Nuclear energy advocate Ziggy Switkowski says finding a way to burn coal cleanly would be the biggest contribution Australia could make to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/03/2294025.htm
A leading business group has warned companies against scaremongering over the issue of a carbon emissions trading scheme.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/03/2293962.htm

The Victorian Government approves a new brown coal plant in the Latrobe Valley.
The $750 million power station will be up and running by 2013, providing its Australian and Chinese developers can secure enough funding. The Victorian Government is putting in $50 million and the previous federal government committed $100 million from the Commonwealth.

Previous Updates:
.China’s rising CO2 is two thirds of total global increase.
Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency reports: Chinese CO2 was up 8% in 2007. Half of all cement manufacture now takes place in China, and it contributes 20% of all Chinese CO2. China is responsible for 24% of global carbon emissions, followed by US with 22%, EU 12%, India 8% and Russia 6%. However, while the US produces 19.4 tonnes of CO2 per capita a year; China only produces 5.1 and India 1.8 (GD June 20, p44)

.Sea ice is melting even faster than last year, despite a cold winter.
.Arctic: Data from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) shows that the year began with Arctic sea ice covering a larger area than at the beginning of 2007. But now it is down to levels seen last June, at the beginning of a summer that broke records for sea ice loss. Scientists on the project say much of the ice is so thin as to melt easily, and the Arctic seas may be ice-free in summer within five to 10 years.

In March, Nasa reported that the area covered by sea ice was slightly larger than in 2007, but much of it consisted of thin floes that had formed during the previous winter. These are much less robust than thicker, less saline floes that have already survived for several years.

A few years ago, scientists were predicting that Arctic waters would be ice-free in summers by about 2080. Then computer models started projecting earlier dates, around 2030 to 2050. Then came the 2007 summer that saw Arctic sea ice shrink to the smallest extent ever recorded, down to 4.2 million sq km from 7.8 million sq km in 1980. By the end of last year, one research group was forecasting ice-free summers by 2013.

.Antarctic: Scientists from the CSIRO have tested the models and examined the temperatures and they have discovered the warming of the world's oceans is happening much faster than even the worst-case predictions, fifty per cent faster in the upper 700 metres of the ocean. As the oceans warm, the ice cover is shrinking. Using the latest forecasts, up to 30 per cent of ice cover in the Antarctic is likely to disappear in 40 years. That poses a problem for whales, which travel huge distances to the Southern Ocean to feed on the ice-dependent krill.
(BBC news website http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7461707.stm;
ABC News Online: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/19/2280294.htm)

Leaked, previously ignored report, on an imminent, irreversible crisis of the Coorong and Lower Lakes.
A stark warning from scientists about conditions in the system was leaked to the ABC. The warning is contained in a report by the Natural Resource Management Board of the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin, and was handed to ministers in May. It says if action is not taken to increase water flows in the next six months, parts of the lower river system will die.
The report set an October deadline for action, but federal and state water ministers are not scheduled to meet until November. At least four scientists on the government-appointed panel told the ABC they were unhappy about what, they said, was the lack of prompt action to avert the impending crisis.

The Greens said the Federal Government's inaction on the crisis was outrageous and have called on them to act immediately. Unless 450GL of water could be delivered to the Coorong and lower lakes through winter and spring, these ecosystems would hit a crucial tipping point beyond which acidity problems would be out of control and runaway collapse would be almost certain. The Federal Government was well aware of the crisis. It was quite clear there was a deliberate strategy to give out tax cuts but not put water back in the river.

Federal Minister for Water and Climate Change, Penny Wong, said she was seeking urgent departmental advice on what more may be done to help save the lower Murray-Darling river system. The Australian Conservation Foundation noted that recent rains had put more water into the basin that could be released. 
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/18/2278303.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/18/2277890.htm

Wild Weather.
Flooding rains, fires and droughts are headline news from the grain basket of the Mississippi to the Pearl River, from California to Spain and the Murray Darling Basin. However, while many scientists see such disrupted weather patterns as consistent with or linked to global warming, weather reporters rarely mention this.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/6/16/extreme_weather_global_warming_floods_in

U.S. Airline Industry Headed Toward ‘Catastrophe’ at Current Oil Prices.
At current oil prices, several large and small U.S. airlines will default on their obligations to creditors, beginning at the end of 2008 and early 2009, according to a study issued today by AirlineForecasts, LLC and the Business Travel Coalition. The study shows that $130/barrel oil prices will increase yearly airline costs by $30 billion, while airlines will be able to generate only $4 billion in fare increases and incremental fees. 
http://businesstravelcoalition.com/campaigns/consolidation/airline_crisis_pr.html

Hybrids and alternative energy: market forces dogma contests government support.
In Japan, Rudd has announced that the government will provide $30mn for Toyota to establish hybrid car production in Melbourne. It is hoped they would be on the market by 2011 and would progressively replace the existing government fleet. The Federal Government will spend $500 million from 2011 to encourage low-emission and fuel-efficient car manufacturing in Australia.

In Canberra, Penny Wong denied that compensation for big polluters would be part of the national emissions trading scheme. She wants carbon trading scheme to be as broad as possible. Swan too hinted it would include fuel.

Meanwhile, the Productivity Commission, backed by The Australian newspaper, has been calling for a ‘level playing field’, with an end to subsidies and targets for solar and other renewable energy. They want tariff reduction, rather than steps to support an Australian made hybrid car.

Professor Ross Garnaut,  has spoken of the issues he will report on to the government in July. He has rejected any notion that petrol should be exempt from a future carbon emissions trading scheme and suggested higher petrol prices could help mitigate carbon emissions. "A revolution in humanity's use of fossil fuel-based energy will be necessary… if we are to hold the risks of climate change to acceptable levels." He added that "To protect our coal exports, we have a very strong interest in the development of the cost-effective technologies that will see geo-sequestration of carbon dioxide emissions from coal use becoming a normal part of business and in helping the transfer of that technology to developing countries," he said.
The Weekend Australian, June 7-8, pp1, 18; http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/06/2266922.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/06/2266633.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/07/2267912.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/06/2267485.htm

US senate emissions cap vote is lost.
US Republicans blocked a move to cap emissions and to set a target of 70% by 2050. They claim it would damage the economy and would have been vetoed by the President. However, Democrats vow to try again.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/07/2267956.htm

Drought declared in California as floods sweep away houses in US mid west.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/10/2269667.htm

GM to close 4 truck and SUV plants and to launch new, ‘green’ vehicles.
GM’s CEO, Rick Wagoner, said they believed the rise in oil prices was structural not cyclical, and likely to change consumer behaviour rapidly and permanently. Demand for petrol-guzzling vehicles was drying up and there was a growing push for fuel-efficient cars.  Plant closures would occur in Canada, Mexico and the US with a loss of 10,000 jobs. They were also considering selling off the Hummer brand and planned to launch a new series of environmentally friendly cars. An all electric vehicle, with a range of 600k, the Chevrolet Vault, was projected to be in showrooms by 2010, with a small petrol engine just to recharge the battery.

For the first month ever, the Honda Civic looks like being the best-selling car in the United States after years of the S-Series truck - a pick-up that Ford makes - being the top-selling car,
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/04/2264794.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/04/2264246.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2008/s2253185.htm

Billions paid for dodgy Clean Development Mechanism offsets.

Between 1/3 and 2/3 of projects, under the UN CDM carbon offsets programme have been found to be routinely abused by chemical, wind, gas and hydro companies, for projects in developing countries that should not qualify. The market for CDM credits is worth nearly $20bn and is expected to grow to over $100bn within four years. More than 1000 projects have been approved and 2000 more are moving through the process.

A working paper from two senior Stanford University academics examined more than 300 projects applied for or already granted with value of $10bn. Another study, by a US watchdog group, found that nearly every projected Chinese hydro, wind and natural gas fired plant was applying. Nearly ¾ of all registered CDM projects were already completed at time of approval. Judging ‘additionality’ was proving unworkable.
(Source Guardian Weekly, 30 May, pp1,2).

The budget gives with one hand and takes away with the other

We reported in the last update on the budget cuts to geothermal drilling, solar installation subsidies and to APNet whose purpose was to promote new breakthrough technology developments that could combat climate change. Some new Clean Energy programs announced by the Federal Government in the latest budget might offset some industry funding issues relating to Commercial Ready cuts. The APNet $5 million funding cut, however directly impacts on the development of new technologies to combat climate change.
New Programs:
Clean Business Australia will provide $240m to establish a partnership with business and industry to deliver energy and water efficient projects with a focus on productivity and innovation. Clean Business Australia will comprise 3 new programs - Climate Ready,
Re-Tooling for Climate Change and the Green Building Fund. They will be introduced in 2008/09.

Commonwealth buy back
The government has bought back 35bn litres of water from Murray Darling basin irrigators – but much of that will not flow through until there are good rains!

Death by a thousand cuts – the budget and climate change.
There has been considerable publicity and criticism of the budget’s means testing of solar energy installation, as if this were some kind of luxury consumption! Solar companies say they are already facing disaster, with cancelled orders, job cuts and weaker prospects as a result.

Fifty million dollars for geothermal drilling has also been deferred, although it may be restored in response to outrage. $5million of funding, previously earmarked for an APNet initiative has also been reversed.  The purpose of the APNet was to promote new breakthrough
technology developments that could combat climate change.  Prof Wei Zhang and Dr Stephen Clarke of Flinders University had been invited, with around 50 other academic scientists in
Australia, onto the APNet committee last year.  At the time, this seemed like an exciting Climate Change initiative in which to be involved but now unfortunately it has been shelved by the current Government.

As disturbing as the casual evisceration of promising infant projects, is the indication that this may be part of a broader strategy. The head of the Productivity Commission has called on the government to scrap subsidies for renewables when carbon trading comes in 2010, and to leave the future of energy entirely to market forces. Since he supports continued subsidies to the coal industry this will hardly produce even the level playing field he claims to believe in.

The Stern Report famously described global warming as the worst case of market failure in history.  While strategically weighted markets may have some role, their greatest weakness is in their focus on short term profits, while the future of our grand children depends on major long term policies and investments.
For strong reactions see:
‘Stuck in the coal age when the solar century has already begun’ by Greens senator Christine Milne
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/21/2250948.htm
and Article by Lainie Anderson in the Sunday Mail 25 May.
For other reports:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/23/2253292.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/19/2248946.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/19/2248347.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/18/2248210.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/17/2247861.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/17/2247721.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/16/2247712.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/16/2247616.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/16/2247035.htm
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23700833-11949,00.htm

The Rudd Government's first budget has disappointed on the climate front.
Greenpeace described it as "a 'pollute as usual' budget that reflects the interests of the fossil fuel lobbyists
in Canberra”. ACF said: "There are some long-overdue initiatives to improve the efficiency of using energy
and water. But the government has missed its opportunity to set the broad strategic direction for the future
by cutting the huge subsidies of fossil fuel supply and use. The budget has allocated about $2 billion to climate
change projects, while the Fuel Tax Credit Scheme costs taxpayers about $5 billion a year. There is a lot more
that needs to be done if we are serious about climate change."

Oxfam reflected that the "Rudd Government has delivered on pre-election commitments of $150 million over
three years to support developing countries to adapt to the impacts of climate change. However, this level of
investment will increasingly be dwarfed by the scale of need, as the effects of climate change accelerate and
impact the lives of poor men and women in developing countries around the world." Oxfam Australia estimates
that $300 million is needed in the current budget for adaptation, building to $1.75 billion over the next five years.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/14/2244875.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/13/2243816.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/11/2241255.htm

 Money for geothermal drilling may be restored.
Within 24 hours of the budget, the government is re-considering its deferral of money for geothermal drilling. It
may redirect money from its energy innovation fund.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23700833-11949,00.htm

Scientists link Burmese cyclone and tidal surge to climate change
The Indian Centre for Science and Environment and the CSIRO warn of stronger cyclones and rising sea surges
that will result from global warming.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/12/2242025.htm

Major new analysis links regional changes in natural systems to warming.
Glacier and permafrost melting, earlier spring-time, coastal erosion and animal migrations are among the observations
laid at the door of man-made warming. The research, in the journal Nature, involves many scientists who took part in
last year's IPCC report. Changes in the Earth's physical and biological systems since at least 1970 are seen in regions
which are known to be warming, it concludes.
The researchers assembled a database including more than 29,500 records that documented changes seen across a
wide range of natural phenomena, such as:

• the earlier arrival of migratory birds in Australia
• declining krill stocks around Antarctica
• earlier break-up of river ice in Mongolia
• genetic shift in the pitcher plant mosquito in North America
• declining productivity of Lake Tanganyika
• melting Patagonian ice-fields

Story by Richard Black, BBC NEWS: 14 May 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/7399162.stm

Two billion trees planted in UN campaign.
More than 2 billion trees were planted around the world as part of the UN's campaign to combat climate
change, the world body's environment program (UNEP) said. The Nairobi-based agency said the tree
planting campaign, inspired by Kenyan nobel peace laureate Wangari Maathai, will help mitigate the
effects of pollution and environmental deterioration.

The campaign launched in 2006 saw 2 billion trees planted, double the original target, with Ethiopia
leading the count at 700 million, Turkey at 400 million, Mexico at 250 million and Kenya at 100 million
trees. The campaign set a new target of 7 billion by late 2009, when governments gather in Copenhagen
for a crucial climate change conference.

Deforestation accounts for over 20 per cent of the carbon dioxide humans generate, rivalling the emissions
from other sources.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/14/2244126.htm

Cyclone Nargis and tidal wave devastate Burma
At latest count there may be up to 100,000 dead and a million homeless, without food
or clean water, after the cyclone and a tidal wave hit Burma at the weekend. The junta
neglected to pass on Indian warnings of the imminent strike and is dragging its feet
about allowing international aid workers in.

There is an ongoing scientific debate whether increasing frequency and ferocity of cyclones
and hurricanes is linked to global warming.  Evidence, published in Nature on 31 January,
showed a correlation between sea temperatures and hurricane frequency and intensity. Data
covering 40 years showed a rise of 40% in hurricane activity for each half degree rise in sea temperatures.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3883123.ece
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=496426 http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v451/n7178/full/
nature06422.htm

Australia not ready for a major natural disaster
An Australian Strategic Policy  Institute report says that Australia  has more 
to fear from a natural disaster than from a terrorist attack. However,  since September 
11 2001 Australia  has spent $5bn on counter terrorism but only $500m on emergency 
response and  would be unprepared to manage its response to a major cyclone, tsunami or  flood.                           
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/07/2237318.htm?section=justin
                           

Could negative feedback temporarily halt warming trend?
A German climate model suggests global temperatures may stabilise for the next 10 years, before rising again. For a time, the cooling
effects of ice melting into the oceans and of a reduced gulf stream might counteract overall global warming trends. Fred Pearce writing
in New Scientist suggests poor short term weather forecasting can undermine confidence in climate science.
To read his article click HERE
Climate scientists have been calling for a global supercomputing centre to help them provide detailed short term forecasts of local climate change.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/sci/tech/7376301.stm
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13855-climate-scientists-call-for-their-own-manhattan-project.html?DCMP=ILC-hmts&nsref=news3_head_dn13855

Nature's long term carbon balance overtaken by human action
New evidence confirms the natural atmospheric balance of the carbon cycle (between volcanic inputs and rock weathering ending on the ocean floor) over hundreds of thousands of years. This has been overtaken by two centuries of industrialisation. CO2 levels in the atmosphere, whose long term levels in the past changed by only 22 parts per million, have now risen by 100 ppm. The long term cyclic balance will be too slow to protect us.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/7363600.stm
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23608598-12335,00.html

Deforestation
A meeting of the Asia Pacific Forestry Commission on climate mitigation and adaptation with questions arising from the Bali conference was held in Hanoi 21-26 April.
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:TcJz7vYR8DcJ:ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/meeting/013/ai395e.pdf+Vietnam+conference
+deforestation&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=au

Sea level rise to exceed IPCC expectations
Global sea levels, stable for the last 2000 years, could rise by between 0.8 and 1.5 metres by the end of this century. The IPCC estimate of 28-43 cm did not take account of accelerated melting of ice sheets and glaciers. The new study comes from a UK/Finnish team which has built a computer model linking temperatures to sea levels for the last two millennia. It was presented at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) annual conference in Vienna this week. Others using different methods have earlier come to similar conclusions.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/sci/tech/7349236.stm

Green movement split over new carbon capture partnership
WWF, the Climate Institute, the Australian Coal Association and the mining union will tomorrow unveil a new partnership supporting carbon capture technology. The group wants the Federal Government to set up a taskforce to help implement the burying of carbon as a way to cut carbon emissions. The group says it is a historic unity that will set out a vision for a
low emission energy future, but Greenpeace and Greens senator Milne say the technology will not be ready until 2020 and is not the solution.  
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/15/2217202.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/15/2216901.htm

Queensland and Wyoming join forces on carbon capture technology
Political, academic and industry leaders from Queensland and Wyoming, the biggest coal producing regions in US and Australia,  are meeting in Brisbane this week to discuss the future of ‘clean coal’. Professor Rudolph from UQ said while technological and cost
issues could be overcome, the forum was examining other issues. "Much more difficult issues relate to the legal issues associated with risk and who owns what. For example, who owns the space underground," he said. "Then there's the issues also of justice, winners and losers.
Who pays for that and who gains the benefit needs to get sorted out."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/10/2213508.htm

China 'now top carbon polluter'.
China has already overtaken the US as the world's "biggest polluter", says a report by a university of California team, to be published next month in the Journal of Environment Economics and Management. The research suggests the country's greenhouse gas emissions
have been underestimated, and probably passed those of the US in 2006-2007. They warn that unchecked future growth will dwarf any emissions cuts made by rich nations under the Kyoto Protocol.

The researchers say their figures are based on provincial-level data from the Chinese Environmental Protection Agency. These are more informative about likely future emissions than national figures, in wider use, because they allow errors to be tracked more closely.
By Roger Harrabin BBC Environment analyst
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7347638.stm

Al Gore to force US election debate on climate change
He will spend $300m, on an advertising blitz, funded by his royalties and Nobel prize money.

Launch of Australia’s first geo-sequestration project
The Federal Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson, joined by the Victorian State Minister for Energy and Resources, Peter Batchelor, officially launched Australia’s first demonstration of geosequestration at midday on Wednesday, 2 April, at the project site in south-western Victoria.

The CO2CRC Otway Project aims to “demonstrate the safety and security of the transport, injection and storage of carbon dioxide, the world’s most common greenhouse gas, in the deep subsurface. CO2CRC is the one of the world's leading collaborative research organisations focused on carbon dioxide capture and geological storage”.
Further information: Carmel Anderson, 0418 461 250; Dr Peter Cook, 0419 490 044.
http://www.co2crc.com.au
The project is highly controversial.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/08/2210794.htm
The potential, risks and likely timescale of this project, and of geo-sequestration in general, were discussed on the ABC 7.30 report on 7 April. 
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2007/s2210205.htm

Carbon capture and storage – projects and debates.
For a careful and informative discussion of the possibilities, limitations and problems with carbon capture and storage (‘clean coal’) by Fred Pearce, see New Scientist 27 March, pages 36-39, or clickHEREfor full text.

Last week the ABC 7.30 report described a project in the Cooper Basin that could cut emissions without shutting down the coal fired power plants. For 45 years Santos has pumped oil and gas out of the basin along the way drilling almost 2,500 wells. The company now proposes reverse engineering to counter climate change by using the old wells to store carbon dioxide.

John Anderson of Santos said it was proven technology today. There were a number of projects throughout the world, for example in Algeria, Norway and Canada, in which C02 is being stored.

Initially Santos intended storing C02 from its own plant but believed it had the storage capacity to hold one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide. A network of pipelines could bring emissions from coal power generation plants from the eastern sea board inland to Moomba.
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2007/s2197789.htm

On April 2 the government unveiled plans to capture & bury 100,000 tons of CO2 in SW Victoria. The plant in south-western Victoria is the biggest in the southern hemisphere and will lock the carbon 2 kilometres underground, removing it from the atmosphere. Dr Peter Cook from the CO2 Cooperative research centre which runs the plant, says the technology will help reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions. "We could store more than that if we wanted to but that's going in the first stage, that's going to give us the information we need," he said. "We do have plans for a second stage with additional carbon dioxide being injected into other rocks, so there's a much larger capacity. But this site will never be used on a commercial scale."

Phil Freeman from the conservation foundation says Australia should focus on alternative power, not burying the problem. "That means renewable energy and cutting our huge amounts of energy waste," he said. The Federal Government argues carbon capture is one part of a bigger solution. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/02/2205380.htm
Meanwhile NASA’s James Hanson has written to Rudd urging his government to Rudd to stop mining and exporting coal. The CSIRO’s Barrie Pittock supports halting any expansion in the use of coal until carbon capture is in place
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/31/2203815.htm

Post Bali talks in Bangkok
On March 31 representatives from some 160 countries gathered in Bangkok, for a week of discussions aiming to set up negotiations for a new post-Kyoto pact to fight climate change. The talks will carry forward a set of decisions called the 'Bali Roadmap', which were adopted at the UN Climate Change Conference held in December in Bali. Paul Winn from Greenpeace says Australia would play a crucial role.  "We're hopeful that Australia will push for a 40 per cent emissions reduction target by 2020," he said.

The Bangkok talks are seeking consensus but poor nations have complained of being left on sidelines. The meeting will not issue a key declaration. The next major climate talks will be in Copenhagen at the end of next year.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/01/2204889.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/01/2204987.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/31/2203107.htm

Murray-Darling Basin plan 'a long term solution'

Federal Water Minister Penny Wong expects a new statutory body set up to look after the Murray-Darling Basin will have formed a comprehensive plan for the river system by 2011. At yesterday's COAG meeting, the states agreed to hand over control of the river system in return for Commonwealth funding for major water savings projects.
The new Murray-Darling Basin Authority will decide how much water goes to the environment, to irrigation and to towns for drinking. Wong says the new Murray-Darling basin Authority will decide how much water goes to the environment, to irrigation and to towns for drinking. While widely welcomed, some question whether the river and wetlands in South Australia can survive that long
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/27/2200164.htm

Antarctic shelf 'hangs by a thread'
A chunk of ice, 41-by-2.5km   has started to break away from Antarctica. Satellite images suggest that part of the Wilkins Ice Shelf is disintegrating, and will soon crumble away. Much of the Wilkins Ice Shelf is now protected by only by a thin strip of ice spanning two islands.
Professor David Vaughan of BAS said: "Wilkins is the largest ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula yet to be threatened… I didn't expect to see things happen this quickly. The ice shelf is hanging by a thread - we'll know in the next few days or weeks what its fate will be." Others think the shelf may hang on until next spring in January.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7313264.stm  25 March 2008.

Arctic ice is thinner and newer
A cool Arctic winter has brought sea ice back to broad expanses that melted clear during last summer's unusual warmth. However, the amount of thick "perennial ice" has declined sharply across the Arctic. Using new data from NASA's ICESat satellite, researchers over the past year detected the steepest yearly decline in "perennial" ice on record. As a result of melting and the southward movement of the thicker ice, the percentage of the Arctic Ocean with this stable ice cover has decreased from more than 50 percent in the mid-1980s to less than 30 percent as of last month.

The loss of long-lasting ice was less the result of warming of the atmosphere than of a long-term rise in ocean temperatures and the effects of the "Arctic oscillation," a variable wind pattern that can either keep icebergs in the Arctic (when the wind pattern is "negative") or push them south (when it is "positive"). Climate experts believe that both the rising water temperature and increasingly frequent "positive" oscillations are a function of global warming.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/18/AR2008031802903.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/sci/tech/7303385.stm

How far is the EU 'committed' to stiff CO2 cuts?
Green groups gave a shudder last week when they heard Europe's big players - especially Germany - were looking for a climate deal that would protect some of the most polluting industries and allow the continued manufacture of gas-guzzling luxury cars.
But in an interview for BBC News, Europe's environment commissioner said necessary concessions made to protect jobs would not jeopardise Europe's 2020 targets of 30% cuts in CO2. He admitted that Europe's industries were involved in ferocious lobbying to win favourable terms from the regime of carbon cuts. He supported Gordon Brown's plan for lower VAT levels on energy-saving products. Story from BBC News, 2008/03/21

Government investment pouring billions into polluting industry
A new report has found that Government investment funds continue to direct billions of dollars more into fossil fuel-based investments than into clean energy. The study commissioned by the Conservation Foundation looked at 36 federal, state and territory investment funds worth around $200 billion. It found they invested $47 in fossil fuel-based projects for every $1 spent on solar and wind plants and that some Government funds invest 50 times more in fossil fuels than in clean power projects.
Sarah Clarke  http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/18/2192200.htm

Adelaide’s record heatwave has ended, after 15 days over 35 degrees.
This broke, by 5 days, the previous longest ever recorded for a capital city. Meteorologists consider that a greater frequency and intensity of such heatwaves are associated with changes to La Nina brought on by global warming, and are likely to recur.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/18/2192200.htm
Sunday Mail 16 March, pp1, 4,5.
The Weekend Australian, 15 March, p11.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/18/2192275.htm?section=justin

Emissions trading for Australia
Penny Wong announced that a green paper would be released in July, for a trading scheme to be up and running by 2010.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/17/2190973.htm

US Government reports warn planners on sea-rise threat to U.S. coasts
Increased heat and "intense precipitation events" and, in particular, a rise in sea levels threatens roads, rail lines, ports, airports and other important infrastructure, and policy makers and planners should be acting now to avoid or mitigate their effects, according to new government reports by by an expert panel convened by the National Research Council, the research arm of the National Academy of Sciences.

Another study, a multiagency effort led by the Environmental Protection Agency, sounds a similar warning on infrastructure but adds that natural features like beaches, wetlands and fresh-water supplies are also threatened by encroaching saltwater. The new reports offer detailed assessments of vulnerability in the relatively near term. Both note that coastal areas are thickly populated, economically important and gaining people and investment by the day, even as scientific knowledge of the risks they face increases. Use of this knowledge by policy makers and planners is "inadequate," the academy panel said.
 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/12/science/12coast.html?ref=science

World's glaciers are melting twice as fast.
Average glacial shrinkage has risen from 30 centimetres per year between 1980 and 1999, to 1.5 metres in 2006 according to data compiled by the World Glacier Monitoring Service which is supported by the United Nations Environment Programme. Some of the biggest losses have occurred in the Alps and Pyrenees mountain ranges in Europe.

Experts have called for "immediate action" to reverse the trend, which is seen as a key climate change indicator.  Estimates for 2006 indicate shrinkage of 1.4 metres of 'water equivalent' compared to half a metre in 2005.
Achim Steiner, Under-Secretary General of the UN and executive director of its environment programme (UNEP), said: "Millions if not billions of people depend directly or indirectly on these natural water storage facilities for drinking water, agriculture, industry and power generation during key parts of the year.
"There are many canaries emerging in the climate change coal mine. The glaciers are perhaps among those making the most noise and it is absolutely essential that everyone sits up and takes notice.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/in_depth/7299561.stm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/16/2190744.htm

Progress on Murray takeover.
At first meeting of Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council since the election, the commonwealth gave ground on allowing states to set annual water allocations within their river systems, making it easier for Victoria to commit. The states agreed to hand over other powers and to agree in principal to merge the existing Murray-Darling Basin commission with the new authority in return for a say in choice of its chair and the four members. Ministers told there was little chance the 500bn litres promised under the Living Murray programme would be delivered by mid 2009.

The meeting approved $30mn for works to reduce salinity at Morgan and for $6mn to pump water from Lake Alexandrina to Lake Albert to prevent soil acidification.
(The Weekend Australian, 8-9 March, p10).

Mortal sins
The Vatican lists environmental pollution on its new list of mortal sins.

Kyoto
Australia’s ratification of Kyoto protocol comes into effect this week.

Global temperature dropped markedly in January but
the met office says this is not outside the range of variability to be found within a long term warming trend.
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/hadleycentre/news/cc_global_variability.html
Meanwhile the Adelaide heatwave in March is equalling or surpassing all previous records.
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,23349494-2682,00.html

Costa Rica aims to be first in a new Climate Neutral Network
New Zealand, Norway, Iceland and Costa Rica have promised to cut their emissions to zero by becoming founding members of the Climate Neutral Network, set up by the UN Environment Programme at a meeting in Monaco last week.

This is a big turnaround for Iceland, which negotiated a 10 per cent rise in its emissions under the Kyoto protocol, but now plans to become the world's first economy run on hydrogen manufactured using clean geothermal energy. Despite its rising emissions, Norway is promising to be carbon-neutral by 2030, partly by capturing emissions and burying them under the North Sea. New Zealand has big plans for renewable power generation and electric cars. But all are put in the shade by the fourth national member of the network, Costa Rica.

The central American country is the first tropical nation to reverse deforestation. Thanks to conservation and replanting, its forest cover has increased from 21 per cent in 1987 to 52 per cent today. With most of its electricity coming from hydro-generation, Costa Rica expects to be the world's first carbon neutral country in time to celebrate 200 years of independence in 2021, says environment and energy minister Roberto Dobles.
http://environment.newscientist.com/article/mg19726453.300-guilty-countries-pledge-to-go-carbon-neutral.html

2050 targets not enough
US climatologists models show only zero emissions can prevent a dangerously warming climate in coming centuries, because of long term heat retention in the oceans
http://environment.newscientist.com/article/dn13395-only-zero-emissions-can-prevent-a-warmer-planet.html

New technological breakthroughs reported
Better batteries
There have been recently reported breakthroughs in nanotechnology, that promise scaled up lithium ion batteries, similar to those used in today’s laptops and cellphones, but with vastly improved safety, durability and performance. These could enable electric cars to successfully compete with petroleum based vehicles.
http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg19726456.100-soupedup-battery-prepares-to-slay-the-gas-guzzlers.html

Using solar energy to convert CO2 back into carbon based fuel
In New Mexico and in Italy research is progressing on converting CO2 into carbon monoxide and oxygen and thence into carbon and oxygen. It has long been known how to do this but it has required enormous inputs of energy. Current work is focussing on using solar energy for this. Unlike many biofuels this would be based on infertile land and in desert areas and not compete with food production.
http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg19726451.600-turning-cosub2sub-back-into-hydrocarbons.html For the full article click here

Drought resistant genes
Research teams in Helsinki and in California have reported in Nature that they have identified a gene which controls the amount of CO2 a plant absorbs, and the amount of water vapour it releases. They claim this is the first step to the development of many crops than can resist drought (including rice). It is hoped these could be commercialised within 20 years.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/world/americas/7268079.stm

Green light for world’s biggest solar power station
Solar Systems is planning to begin construction next year of a $420m project in the Mallee. It would generate enough energy to power Mildura’s 11,000 homes and hundreds of businesses as well as other towns between Mildura and Swan Hill. Victorian electricity TRUenergy announced it had bought a 20% share in Solar Systems and would invest $285 in the projected plant.
SunraysiaDaily, 26 February, pages 1, 2.

Investment giants demand 90% carbon cut by 2050.
Forty of the world’s largest institutional investors in the world have called on US Congress to introduce a mandatory national policy to reduce greenhouse emissions from 1990 levels. They want the US financial regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission to insist companies disclose their exposure to climate change, and that equity analysts and ratings agencies calculate potential carbon costs.

The CEO of F&C Asset Management said climate change had the potential to cause ‘devastating damage’ to the economy if nothing was done, or to generate investment opportunities. ‘Investors and industry need certainty over what the regulatory regime will be over the next two to three decades in order to release the billions of investment capital that will finance the shift we need to make’. (The Guardian Weekly, 22 February, p18)

Garnaut initial report calls for urgent setting of a 2020 emissions target
He said the latest science showed warming was happening much faster than thought by the IPCC, which underestimated the dangers of ‘business as usual’. More realistic growth trajectories would bring forward critical points of high risk. ‘Time is running out’. A 60% target for 2050 was not enough. South Australia was particularly vulnerable.
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,23252072-5005962,00.html?from=raa_rss
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,23251132-5006301,00.htm
The Advertiser 22 February, pp6,7.

Virgin flies a Boeing 747 London to Amsterdam partly powered by biofuels
One of the four engines was fired by a mix of avgas and biofuels, with the biofuel being made up of coconut and babassu nut oil. Richard Branson sees it as a breakthrough, showing green aviation is possible.

Greenpeace has denounced it as a ‘stunt’. But in Australia Planet Ark founder Jon Dee, would like to see more time spent researching the adaptation of greener potential sources of fuel. "I actually think it is good to show that you can fly major airliners on alternative fuels… But what we should be looking at is how can we get that biofuel derived from algae." Mr Dee said there were are two main concerns with biofuel – that it could increase the price of food and that it could threaten biodiversity if new land was cleared. "And the real benefit of algae is that you can grow it on sewage treatment ponds... if we could ramp up that side of the biofuel industry then that's got really quite significant potential."

The president of the Victorian Farmers Federation and chairman of the National Farmers' Federation taskforce on biofuels, Simon Ramsay, says the process is still in early days.
"I can see wonderful opportunities not for ... the traditional-based product, but for future products being used for the conversion of biofuel," he said. "We're talking about tannins, oils and barks particularly for diesel. We're talking about grasses ... and sugars and things for ethanol. "And not our traditional cereals which would replace the energy source from food to fuel, but some of the more second or third generation-based products that can be used without actually impacting on the ability to produce food.  http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/25/2171511.htm The Australian, 26 February, p11.

World leaders in renewable energy in Adelaide addressed the Third International Solar Cities Congress in Adelaide. Keynote speakers included Robert Kennedy jr (US); Zhengrong Shi (CEO of Suntech Holdings, China) Holdings; Mike Rann (premier of South Australia); Gary Doer (Premier of the province of Manitoba, Canada); Herbert Girardet (UK); Anne Greta Hestnes (Norway); John Ellice-Flint (Managing Director of Santos).
A total of 90 speakers from 30 countries addressed the 800 delegates. For the full program and downloads of abstracts go to: http://www.solarcitiescongress.com.au/program.htm

US pulls out of FutureGen Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Project
IT WAS one of the Bush administration's biggest and boldest efforts to develop clean energy, and had backing from both industry and foreign governments. Now it appears doomed.

On 30 January, the US Department of Energy (DOE) announced it would not complete payment of its promised contribution of around $1.3 billion towards the FutureGen project, a coal power plant designed to use carbon capture and storage to cut emissions almost to zero. This was despite pledges to pay the remaining $500 million of the plant's total bill from a group of energy companies called the FutureGen Alliance and governments in China, India, South Korea, Australia and Japan.

This has led to a collapse of confidence in ‘clean coal’ (CCS) technologies and undermines NSW plans for electricity privatisation that were linked to the project.
For a fuller account and editorial comment in New Scientist 9 February (pp5,6) click HERE.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/06/2155922.htm

New fund urged for developing countries.
G7 finance ministers and central bank chiefs, meeting in Tokyo, have called for a multi-lateral investment fund, involving the World Bank, to help developing countries tackle climate change. The proposal will be on the agenda for the forthcoming Group of 8 meeting
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/10/2158692.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/08/2157574.htm

Merchant shipping emissions underestimated.
A new UN report finds carbon emissions from merchant shipping are nearly 3X greater than previously thought. They are now estimated to account for 4.5% of global emissions. The EU does not include these in its target calculations.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/13/2161870.htm?section=justin

Taxing gas guzzlers off London streets
Owners of vehicles (including residents) emitting more than 225grams of CO2 per k will be taxed $53 a day, from October, to drive in the central London congestion zone.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/12/2161077.htm

ABS 2008 yearbook reveals Australia's carbon binge. Australians emit more than 17 tonnes of carbon per person per year  A national snapshot compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reveals there has been little growth in the production of renewable fuels over the past 30 years, and Australians continue to be high greenhouse gas emitters.

The report found non-renewable fuel production has gone up more than 400 per cent with little growth in renewables. Black coal accounted for half of Australia's energy production in 2005-06 while renewable energy such as bagasse (derived from sugar cane) solar and hydro electricity made up just 2 per cent.
The most recent figures show Australians emit more than 17 tonnes of carbon per person, compared with an OECD average of just over 11 tonnes. The ABS says that is driven by the high use of coal in electricity generation and the reliance on cars. Use of public transport to get to work has risen little over 10 years - up just 2 per cent to 14 per cent.
The report also shows people are recycling more and are using less water but are ignoring environmental concerns in other areas of their lives. Australians reduced their water consumption by 8 per cent in the five years to 2005 but household use of solar energy to heat water remains at just 4 per cent. (ABC News Online Feb 7, 2008).

Penny Wong: ‘Australia is committed to short and medium term emissions targets’.
Experts from 16 of the largest economies are in Hawaii for the second in the series of President Bush's climate talks. Penny Wong, was interviewed on Radio National. She assured listeners that, irrespective of the outcome of the Garnaut report, the Australian government was committed to short and medium term emission targets. She said the conference was not a diversion but would need to work towards a new UN agreement.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/breakfast/stories/2008/2151850.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/sci/tech/7217354.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/sci/tech/7223222.stm

European push for greener aviation.
Some of the biggest names in European aviation, including Airbus, Dassault, Saab and Rolls Royce are to team up with the EU and with universities and research institutes to develop cleaner aircraft technology. The 1.6bn Euros project, jointly funded by public and private money, aims to cut CO2 emissions by 40%.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/world/europe/7228054.stm

Many of Earth's climate systems will undergo a series of sudden shifts this century as a result of human-induced climate change, a study suggests.
The researchers, from University of East Anglia, have listed and ranked nine ecological systems that they say could be lost this century as a result of global warming. The nine tipping elements and the time it will take them to undergo a major transition are:

• Melting of Arctic sea-ice (about 10 years)
• Decay of the Greenland ice sheet (about 300 years)
• Collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet (about 300 years)
• Collapse of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation (about 100 years)
• Increase in the El Nino Southern Oscillation (about 100 years)
• Collapse of the Indian summer monsoon (about 1 year)
• Greening of the Sahara/Sahel and disruption of the West African monsoon (about 10 years)
• Dieback of the Amazon rainforest (about 50 years)
• Dieback of the Boreal Forest (about 50 years)

In principle, early warning systems could be established using real-time monitoring and modelling to detect the proximity of certain tipping points.
BBC News. 2008/02/04 http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/7227080.stm

Rising sea temperatures linked to hurricanes.
New statistical evidence, published in Nature on 31 January, shows a correlation between sea temperatures and hurricane frequency and intensity. Data covering 40 years showed a rise of 40% in hurricane activity for each half degree rise in sea temperatures.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v451/n7178/full/nature06422.htm

Tuvalu king tides rising higher

Brazil’s Amazon deforestation increasing again after temporary decline.

China is suffering its harshest winter for half a century.

EU sets out a plan of action which, it says, will meet the challenge of climate change.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/sci/tech/7203514.stm

AGU updates its position: Climate 'clearly out of balance'

The world's climate is "clearly out of balance and is warming", the world's largest society of Earth and space scientists has said in a statement. The American Geophysical Union (AGU) warned that changes to the Earth's climate system were "not natural". Changes in temperature, sea level and rainfall were best explained by the increased concentration of greenhouse gases from human activities, it added. The union called for carbon emissions to be cut by more than 50% by 2100.

It is the first time the AGU has updated its policy position on climate change since 2003, when it called for a concerted worldwide study to understand how the Earth would change as a result of climate change. The AGU Council, which adopted the updated position, said that a sustained research effort involving many of its members had strengthened the scientific understanding of the impacts of climate change.
It warned that the world faced a tough challenge over the coming 50 years: "Even the lower limit of impending climate change - an additional global mean warming of 1.0C (1.8F) above the last decade - is far beyond the range of climate variability experienced during the past 1,000 years."Warming greater than 2.0C (3.6F) above 19th Century levels is projected to be disruptive, reducing global agricultural productivity, causing widespread loss of biodiversity, and - if sustained over centuries - melting of much of the Greenland ice sheet."
BBC News Thursday, 24 January 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7207335.stm

GM accepts ‘peak oil’.

The boss of US car giant General Motors says the days of petrol engines are numbered, saying oil supply has peaked and the race is on for replacement fuels

Northern aerosol pollution has been affecting our weather: CSIRO Report.

Australia has just had a month of wild weather, extreme heat and major flooding, but scientists are warning of more. A new report, in Geophysical Research Letters, found human-generated pollution in the Northern Hemisphere is causing big changes in the south, including less rainfall, stronger winds and warmer ocean temperatures.
By cooling the Northern Hemisphere's ocean surface, aerosol pollution is redistributing heat  through the world’s oceans; changing ocean circulation; shifting the position of the Southern Annular Mode and consequently changing weather patterns across southern Australia.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/22/2143744.htm
http://www.csiro.au/news/ps3ui.html

Kite to pull ship across the Atlantic.
The world's first commercial cargo ship partially powered by a giant kite is setting sail from Germany to Venezuela.
The designers of the MS Beluga Skysails say the computer-controlled kite, measuring 160sq m (1,722sq ft), could cut fuel consumption by as much as 20%.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7201887.stm

As EU allocates differentiated national emission targets, it threatens carbon tariffs on US.The president of the European Commission has threatened to impose carbon tariffs on imports unless the US agrees to a global climate change deal. Jose Manuel Barroso wants to protect energy-intensive sectors such as aluminium, steel and cement. He says there is no point to these industries cutting emissions in Europe if they lose business to countries with laxer rules on carbon emissions. He made the comments in a speech to business leaders in London. Other countries exporting to Europe will take note of the threat.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7201835.stm

The government of Abu Dhabi has announced a $15bn (£7.5bn) initiative to develop clean energy technologies.
The Gulf state describes the five-year initiative as "the most ambitious sustainability project ever launched by a government". Components will include solar energy, the world's largest hydrogen power plant and a "sustainable city", housing about 50,000 people, that will produce no greenhouse gases and contain no cars.
Hydrogen will be manufactured from natural gas by reactions involving steam, producing a mixture of hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The CO2 can be pumped underground.  "It's important because it shows that you can generate hydrogen without carbon release from fossil fuels," commented Keith Guy, an engineering consultant and professor at the UK's Bath University.

The Masdar Sustainable City, another component of the Abu Dhabi government's plans which is being designed with input from the environmental group WWF, is envisaged as a self-contained car-free zone where all energy will come from renewable resources, principally solar panels to generate electricity. Buildings will be constructed to allow air in but keep the Sun's heat out. Wind towers will ventilate homes and offices using natural convection.
The fund and the Masdar City plans were formally unveiled at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.

Biofuels mixed reports
A new study reported by Britain’s Royal Society notes enormous diversity in the promise and dangers of biofuels and calls for more targeted incentives and research.
Biofuels - principally ethanol and diesel made from plants - are one of the few viable options for replacing the liquid fuels derived from petroleum that are used in transport, the source of about one quarter of the human race's greenhouse gas emissions. Vehicles, and the infrastructure for delivering fuel through filling stations, can be modified at marginal cost - certainly compared with the price of a large-scale switch to hydrogen or electric vehicles.
However, a number of recent scientific studies had shown that the carbon savings from using biofuels compared with petrol and diesel vary hugely, depending on what crop is grown and where, how it is harvested and processed, and other factors. There were also concerns that widespread planting and use of biofuel crops would threaten natural ecosystems and raise food prices.

Launching the Royal Society report, Professor Pickett noted that current EU and US policies did not mandate that biofuels should achieve any carbon saving. The report said that the UK government's Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO), which mandated that 5% of fuel sold on filling station forecourts by 2010 must come from renewable sources, suffered from the same flaw, though changes were being discussed in Whitehall. As a result, the report concluded, these policies "will do more for economic development and energy security than combating climate change".

Of particular interest were ways of processing lignocellulose, the material which makes up the bulk of many plants and trees. Learning how to convert this easily and cheaply into ethanol or other biofuels would make refining much more efficient, and vastly expand the range of crops that could be used.

But alongside this technology-focussed research, said Dr Jeremy Woods of Imperial College London, should go programmes aimed at measuring the true environmental and social impacts of different approaches. He gave the example of African nations such as Tanzania, where various parties including the government, local entrepreneurs and multinational companies were exploring the potential of biofuel crops. "Tanzania is quite likely to start indigenous biofuel production," he said, "and if they do it in a good way, they could improve food production and preserve biodiversity."

The weather marches on
While the media took a holiday break from the issue of global warming, after the heavy coverage of the Bali conference, evidence of record breaking and extreme weather kept coming in.

For Adelaide and for the state of South Australia as a whole, 2007 was the warmest year since records began. The BOM senior meteorologist noted “It was the 15th consecutive year of above average temperatures for South Australia and that shows the global warming trends biting”.

New South Wales, Victoria and the Murray Darling basin also broke all temperature records for the year and for the whole of Australia the annual mean temperature had been the sixth hottest on record. See Bureau of Meteorology Annual Climate Statement 2007
http://www.bom.gov.au/announcements/media_releases/climate/change/20080103.shtml

In Britain 2007 recorded the second warmest annual average since national records began in 1914 while long term weather forecasts are warning of perhaps the ‘coldest January in 100 years’.

New Switch Grass Biofuels study Producing biofuels from the fast-growing grass, whi